Google has partnered with universities, research labs and
industrial partners to work towards a goal of giving mobile
devices a “human-scale understanding of space and motion.” One
day, Google wants to move Project Tango from prototype to a
mainstream consumer device, so everyone can carry one of these 3D
scanners in their pockets — a strategy underlined earlier this
month when
Google moved Project Tango from its experimental Advanced
Technology and Projects Group (ATAP) into “a new home within
Google” itself.

Very few of the development kits are out in the wild (only up to
about 500,) but we visited London-based mobile marketing agency
Somo, one of Project Tango’s development partners. The agency
couldn't tell us which clients it will be letting loose on the
device, but its roster includes companies such as BP, Audi, and
De Beers.

Somo has one of the 7” tablet development kits. It runs Android
and is powered by an impressive NVIDIA Tegra K1 processor and
comes with 4GB of RAM.

From left-to-right on the back of the device, Project Tango has
an infrared camera and depth sensor, a fish-eye lens that allows
for 180-degree tracking, and an infrared projector.

Business Insider/Lara O'Reilly

It might not look it, but Project Tango is an extremely clever
device. It knows where it is all the time, even in airplane mode,
due to the gyroscope, sensors, and camera, which make 250,000 3D
measurements every time you move the device. It allows you to map
out your surroundings in 3D and its depth sensors can accurately
give you an idea of the distance between two objects. And all of
that comes in the size of a small — albeit a little chunky —
tablet, similar to the size and feel of the kind of sub-$100-$150
tablet you can buy today.

You don’t just have to map out whole rooms, you can even map out
individual objects or people. But rather than buying a $50,000
laser scanner, the Project Tango Development Kits currently cost
around $1,000. What’s really impressive is the speed with which
it builds its augmented reality. Just a couple of light wrist
flicks and Noreen from Somo’s (thanks for volunteering) whole
face was mapped out — no waiting around for processing and
loading.

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A room takes about five minutes. The only problem at the moment
is drift as you walk around, trying to keep the tablet at a
steady level, meaning bits of chairs can end up looking like
they're floating in mid-air.

The first use case that immediately sprang into my mind is for
real estate agents: Rather than having to rely on those awful
360-degree (sometimes doctored) panoramic shots of the property
you’re considering buying on a real estate agent’s website, you
could get a perfect sense of what the “airy” hallway actually
looks like and whether you can fit your 5-piece sofa inside the
lounge.

Naji El-Arifi, Somo’s product innovation manager, told us:
“Augmented reality will take off in a big way. Instead of
scanning a 2D poster, or edge-tracking [an augmented reality
object] around a 2D surface, this will be much better; you could
place a life-sized car on the table.”

He encourages us to think big about the use cases for Project
Tango: “Anyone who sells a real product or owns a large space
could find this useful.”

Business Insider/Lara O'Reilly

Examples he cited include: A field worker being able to overlay
information on to an actual 3D object; a retail store being
3D-mapped so staff know exactly where to go or where a customer
is without the need for beacons or GPS; consumers being able to
scan and quickly 3D print any object; the device could also be
attached to drones.

At the moment, all the easily comprehensible ideas for Project
Tango appear rooted in business — particularly because the demos
we were looking at were impressively quick, but
weren't particularly sexy. El-Arifi showed us how it could
be integrated into gaming, too — although it’s not quite clear
why that particular game needed to be in the 3D-environment (a
criticism I’ve often leveled at augmented reality games.)

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He also explained how being
able to quickly map out an area could be helpful in situations
where mobile signal is minimal — people on desert trails,
mountain treks, space probes or even just less exotic mobile
blackspots.

Google is understood to be working with LG to make a consumer
version of Project Tango, penned for release later this year. It
won't be for everyone: The device will probably retail within the
region of $1,200 and there will need to be far more compelling
use cases spanning gaming, mapping and general utility to really
excite consumers. But it's in the enterprise where Project Tango
could really take off.

And with research and development partners including Bosch,
Nvidia and Flyby, it's easy to see a future in which portable
3D-mapping and scanning becomes commonplace within businesses. It
might not be something people use everyday, but Project Tango
could turn what we know as augmented reality into something
everyday people use.

Here’s one of Google’s official marketing video for the
prototype, showing the device in action: